A dying robbery suspect was dumped at a Dallas gas station Wednesday after he was shot by an elderly man during a holdup at an apartment, Dallas police said Thursday.
Dallas police identified the suspect as Saeid Ardestani, 56. He was pronounced dead Wednesday evening at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.Detectives interviewed the 74-year-old man and later released him, but the case will be presented to a Dallas County grand jury authorities said.“He defended himself in the course of being robbed in his home,” Dallas police officer Juan Fernandez said in a news release Thurday. Dallas police were first dispatched to a shooting call at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday at a Valero gas station at Webb Chapel Extension and Larga Drive. Officers found Ardestani wounded and paramedics took him to Parkland, where he later died.Video surveillance at the gas station showed that Ardestani was driven to the station and left there by an unidentified man and woman who called 911 and then left the scene.About 6:41 p.m., police responded to a shooting call at 9729 Dale Crest Drive at the Spanish Pueblo Apartments. The 74-year-old man told police there that two men had entered his apartment and robbed him.During the robbery, the man, who had a handgun in his waistband, pulled it out and shot one of the robbers. The men managed to get out of the apartment and fled the scene.Because the shooting calls were close to each other and the elderly man’s description matched the one of the man found at the gas station, investigators determined that the cases were related.During an interview with detectives, the man told authorities that two men came to his apartment door asking for change. As he spoke to them at the front door, one of them entered the apartment and demanded money. The robber kept his hand in his pocket and told the man that he would be shot if he didn’t comply.At some point, the 74-year-old man shot the robber.The man told detectives he tried to call 911, but he had problems calling from his telephone, causing a delay in reporting the holdup.Physical evidence at the man’s apartment corroborated his story, Dallas police said Thursday.Domingo Ramirez Jr., 817-390-7763 Twitter: @mingoramirezjr
